WEEK IN REVIEW: D.C.

Sunday, July 8, 2007 | 7:08 a.m.

WASHINGTON - As the Iraq war drags on and both parties feel the heat of what anti-war activists are calling a long, hot summer of protest, it's hard not to wonder, is July the new September?

Not long ago, all eyes were on the fall month as the time when there might be a change in the U.S. policy in Iraq. That's when Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top American commander for Iraq, is scheduled to give his long-awaited report to Congress on the progress of President Bush's troop surge.

September is also when Republican leadership in Congress has indicated there might be some reassessment of its support for the president's strategies. Individual members of Congress who continue to back the war, including Nevada Republican Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller, have said they might do some soul searching on the issue come fall.

But one by one, Senate Republican pillars have started to sway, in headlines that are now well known - Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind .; Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio; Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N .M ., all longtime backers of the war who are now not so sure.

And indeed, the heat is on.

Anti-war groups that bonded for the Iraq Summer campaign held their first protest targeting Heller last week in Reno. Attacks on Porter are promised.

When Congress resumes work this week, Democratic leaders are pledging renewed focus on the war after spending much of June on a domestic agenda.

On Monday the Senate is poised to pick up the Iraq debate with the first of various measures tied to the defense authorization bill to change course in Iraq.

On the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters just before the July Fourth recess to expect similar strategy. "We have many arrows in our quiver and we are sharpening them," Pelosi said.

Will the heat have gotten to Porter and Heller?

Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign changed course somewhat in May, when he joined other Republicans for the first time in passing a Senate measure to set benchmarks for the Iraqi government. Will he now shift again? Will his position as head of the committee trying to elect Republican senators in 2008 demand it?

Democrats in Congress have their own motivation to make headway on Iraq after seeing their approval rating tank in recent months. Americans are tired of the war and frustrated that their new Congress has not been able to change direction as promised, public opinion polls show. Congress' popularity plummeted to the 20s after it voted in late May to give President Bush $98 billion supplemental war funding after he had vetoed their efforts to set a withdrawal date.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who insists he does not read polls, said he was nevertheless told by his pollster, Mark Mellman, that Democats' dismal approval rating in Congress - which is now in the 30s - was linked to Bush and the war.

Reid remains bullish on Democrats' chances to pick up Senate seats in 2008.

"Let's be real," Reid told reporters just before the July Fourth recess. "The war is dragging down" Americans' attitudes.

And so , as it has been almost all year, the war debate will be at the forefront of the Democrats' agenda this month. And July could start to seem more like September.